


Thanatos

by auriond



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: semi-canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:54:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27146935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auriond/pseuds/auriond
Summary: A simple assignment takes a deadly turn for Division 2, for no apparent reason. The unusual elements of the case have resulted in rumors flying around the MWPSB - and Chief Kasei worried enough that she assigns Division 1 to the case.This story is set about a year before the events of the first Psycho-Pass Movie. It's the first time I'm doing a multi-chapter PP fanfic, so please bear with me as I find my way around AO3.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

_The alert came in at a quarter to three in the morning. The MWPSB building was dimmed for the night and the offices empty save for a skeleton crew made up of scattered members of Division 2. The call that came in was not unusual for this hour of the night: a man, who appeared drunk or possibly high on drugs, was threatening to throw himself and his wife off the roof of a fourteen-storey building in one of the less populated suburbs. Inspector Hirota Michika was dispatched with two of his Enforcers to talk the man down, or if need be, to use deadly force to save the woman._

_The man and his wife did not survive, and Inspector Hirota returned to the MWPSB headquarters at nine in the morning, alone._

*****

Chief Kasei looked pointedly at the two women before her. “This is for your ears only,” she said sternly. “Nothing is to leave this room.”

“Understood, Chief Kasei,” acknowledged Tsunemori, with a brief incline of her head. “But,” she added tentatively, “there’ve been all sorts of rumors going around the office since Inspector Hirota returned. Should we do something about it?”

“They’re saying one of the Enforcers turned on the other!” Shimotsuki interrupted, throwing up her hands. “The more gullible ones among them believe that the man had some sort of _mind control_! That he _made_ the Enforcers jump off the roof with him! That Hirota only managed to escape because he didn’t go up on the roof with them!”

Chief Kasei shot her a stern glare. “Calm yourself, Inspector,” she said coldly. Shimotsuki shut up.

The Chief rose from her seat and walked around the desk with her arms folded, choosing her next words carefully. “It’s a very unusual case. On the surface, it should have been cut and dried. A domestic squabble, a man under the influence of illegal drugs, wanting to end it all. Trained officers like ours should never have been close enough to the man to be pulled down with him. The two of them made a very deadly mistake, and the result is – one dead, and one very severely injured. Perhaps we can let this be a lesson to the other Enforcers.”

“ _Huh!?_ But that wasn’t – ” Shimotsuki began. Tsunemori put out a hand, and she subsided.

“Chief Kasei, is that the official line?” Tsunemori asked.

Chief Kasei gazed calmly at her over the top of her glasses. “Events transpired exactly as I described it, Inspector.”

Tsunemori accepted this silently. Shimotsuki visibly swallowed the retort that rose to her lips.

“Still, it is a _very_ unusual case,” Chief Kasei said slowly. “That is why I want Division 1 on it.”

“Chief,” Tsunemori pointed out, “no one will believe that the Division 2 Enforcers were at fault if we’re assigned to investigate. If it’s as cut and dried as you just said it was.”

“I know. But – and this is the part that must stay in this room – if even half of what Inspector Hirota said is true, then we have a very grave danger on our hands. And at least part of what he said is verifiably true.”

“And that is?” Tsunemori prompted.

“That Enforcer Isa pointed his Dominator at Enforcer Nakasone for twenty-two seconds before he, Enforcer Nakasone, the suspect and his wife plummeted off the roof to the ground.”

*****

Shimotsuki was fuming as they left Chief Kasei’s office, but Tsunemori wasn’t in the mood to indulge her outbursts. She was more concerned about just how they were going to go about with their investigations without further fueling the rumors that were already taking on a life of their own.

As they strode into Karanomori’s office where Division 1 was already assembled, they could feel all eyes on them. Tsunemori held her breath and walked stiffly past the Enforcers to the screen. Shimotsuki followed with almost comically exaggerated casualness. The Enforcers exchanged quizzical looks.

Sugo was the first to speak. “So, uh,” he cleared his throat, “what did the Chief want to talk to us about?”

Tsunemori decided that honesty was the best policy. “We’ve been assigned to Division 2’s case,” she said.

“What _is_ Division 2’s case?” Kunizuka wondered. “There’ve been so many different versions of what happened last night that it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not.”

“Good question. Let’s go over the facts as we know them. Karanomori-san?”

“Sure sure.” Karanomori tapped a key and the profiles of a middle-aged couple flashed on the screen. “Facts only, right? What we currently know for sure is that at 2.48AM this morning, three members of Division 2 were dispatched in response to a report of a man who was behaving erratically. Said man has been identified as Kogawa Shuji, 58. An electrician who lived in Kita Ward with his wife, our initial investigations show that the relationship between the couple haven’t been the best, but have never escalated into domestic violence – till now. His neighbors were in fact shocked to hear that he had taken his wife to the roof of his workplace with the possible intention of a murder-suicide.”

“How did he get on the roof?” Kunizuka interjected.

Karanomori shrugged. “It seems it might have been premeditated. His supervisor says he asked for roof access the day before. Said he needed to check one of the air-conditioning compressors there as they’d had some issues with it.”

“Very convenient,” Sugo murmured.

“Very,” agreed Karanomori. “The other thing we know about Kogawa is that illegal substances have been found in his home. Mostly hallucinogens, a couple of stimulants. Nothing very unusual, but they might just have been the reason for him acting out so suddenly. The autopsy results aren’t out yet, but we’re making it a point to check for them.”

“This is all very interesting,” Ginoza spoke up from the back of the room, “but the electrician’s case isn’t what we’ve been tasked to investigate, is it?”

“I’m getting to that,” Karanomori said, taking a deep drag on her ever-present cigarette. She tapped a few more keys, and the profiles of the electrician and his wife vanished from the screen, to be replaced by the familiar faces of their colleagues from Division 2.

Inspector Hirota Michika was only two years older than Tsunemori, with wide uncertain eyes and carefully groomed hair. Enforcer Isa Michiaki was almost forty, but with his close-cropped hair he looked almost a decade younger, with a physique to match. And Enforcer Nakasone Kiwa – a newcomer to the team, with hooded eyes and the suppressed energy of youth. She looked serious in her official portrait, but Tsunemori remembered her as being fairly cheerful in person. How different their identification photos looked when they were shown on the screen like this. As if, Tsunemori reflected critically, they were as distant from Division 1 as the electrician and his wife were. She understood that this was standard protocol in a case briefing, but it still felt callously detached to her.

Oblivious to Tsunemori’s internal musings, Karanomori continued. “Inspector Hirota arrived on the scene with Enforcer Isa and Enforcer Nakasone within twenty minutes of receiving the call. Inspector Hirota tells us that he stayed on the ground to monitor the situation and keep bystanders away, while the Enforcers entered the building to try and talk Kogawa down. According to Inspector Hirota’s account, Kogawa had somehow forced his wife to the edge of the roof, and was screaming threats and insults at her while she tried to pull away from him to safety. Inspector Hirota saw Enforcer Nakasone emerge on the roof from behind the couple. She appeared to be saying something to Kogawa, but Inspector Hirota couldn’t hear her from where he was. They had about two minutes of dialogue before Enforcer Isa came into view from the other end of the roof. He seemed to be planning to physically separate the electrician and his wife while Nakasone had them distracted.

“So far so good, but that was when, according to Inspector Hirota, things started to get strange. Nakasone began to talk to Isa instead of Kogawa. This went on for several minutes, and then – Enforcer Isa raised his Dominator and pointed it, not at Kogawa, but at Nakasone. Their voices were now raised, but Hirota claims to still not be able to make out what they were saying until Nakasone screamed – and pushed Kogawa’s wife off the roof. And as Kogawa was holding on to her, he lost his balance and went over the edge too.

“At this point Isa should have had several chances to fire his Dominator in order to neutralize Nakasone, but according to Inspector Hirota, he didn’t. Neither of them used their Dominators. Instead Nakasone tackled Isa in an apparent bid to push him off-balance. Again, Isa should have had the upper hand, with his age and physique, but Hirota says Nakasone was like a demon the way she kept him on the defensive. Eventually Nakasone somehow recovered her Dominator, shot Isa, and then hauled him off the roof before jumping herself. They hit the pavement not three metres away from Hirota.” Karanomori paused to take another drag on her cigarette. “Of the four, only Enforcer Isa survived, and even then he’s in intensive care now. I’m not completely sure he’ll make it.”

There was an almost stunned silence as Karanomori's audience tried to take it all in. Tsunemori tried to imagine how it sounded from the Enforcers’ perspective. A relatively straightforward assignment, gone so wrong without warning. Enforcers turning on each other, seemingly without rhyme or reason.

As if reading her thoughts, Ginoza offered the first comment. “No wonder some of the others were talking about mind control. This whole thing doesn’t make sense at all.”

Shimotsuki snorted. “How could Kogawa have controlled their minds just from talking to them for a few minutes? And how was he still controlling them when he’d fallen off the roof? You _would_ be so gullible as to believe such utter nonsense.”

“I never said _I_ believed it,” Ginoza protested mildly.

Tsunemori cut them off before Shimotsuki could react. “That’s beside the point. The problem is that we’re now assigned to investigate this case. And we have to do it in a way that doesn’t further worsen the morale of the other Divisions.”

“How’s that possible?” Sugo asked. “Just the sheer act of us investigating it will send a signal that the Chief deems this case unusual enough to look into.”

“We can’t avoid that, so we’ll just ignore it. None of you are to say a word to the other Divisions about this case while it’s still ongoing. If they want information, they’ll have to get it from the Chief first.”

The Enforcers nodded solemnly, and for the first time since that morning, Tsunemori relaxed a little. She thanked her lucky stars that the all the current members of her team were reliable people, not given to excitement or gossip. Even Shimotsuki.

She could only hope that she wouldn’t be proven wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Division 1 begin their investigation of the events of the night before, and make a surprising discovery.

The first order of the day was to gather more information. Shimotsuki was to go with Ginoza and Sugo to interview Hirota. Afterwards, they were to join Tsunemori and Hinakawa at the scene of the night’s events. Kunizuka was assigned to remain at headquarters and assist Karanomori in the analysis of the post-mortem results once they were released.

Hirota was currently receiving mental care at the MWPSB in-house treatment facility, but Shimotsuki and her team was immediately stymied at the entrance. They were greeted by a tall man with a grave demeanor, dressed in a nondescript grey turtleneck and dark blazer. “My apologies, madam,” he said politely but firmly, “but I cannot allow you to see Inspector Hirota. His Hue has been severely clouded by the traumatic events of last night. You could say that he is in critical condition. Mentally speaking. An interview now could do untold harm.”

“And you are?” Shimotsuki queried.

“Dr Ishimoto Kisho, psychotherapist. Pleased to meet you.”

“Dr Ishimoto. We’ve been assigned to investigate the events that you mentioned, and we need to get more details from Inspector Hirota, as a key eyewitness. Can you at least share his psychological profile with us?”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid I must decline. I can have you sent a broad outline, but none of the specifics. My patient has requested confidentiality.”

Shimotsuki knitted her brows, trying to find a way around this new obstacle. Behind her, Ginoza spoke. “We would appreciate that, and any other assistance you can provide us, Doctor. But what about Enforcer Nakasone Kiwa? As a person under investigation, we have the right to request her records.”

The psychotherapist blinked. “Enforcer Nakasone was not one of my patients. I believe she was seeing Dr Takanashi Minami. Though she’ll tell you that you’ll still need a warrant for that information.”

Seeing that they could make no more headway here, Shimotsuki came to a decision. “Thanks for your time, Doctor.” She turned abruptly on her heel and stalked out. Ginoza and Sugo nodded briefly to Dr Ishimoto, who responded with a slight smile and returned to the depths of his office.

***

“That was quick thinking”, Shimotsuki complimented Ginoza grudgingly as they headed for Dr Takanashi’s office. She tapped on her wrist communicator and fired off a request for a warrant. “At least today won’t be a complete waste of time. How did you know he would know Nakasone’s therapist?”

“I didn’t,” Ginoza replied. “It was just a hunch. After all, he’s my therapist too.”

Shimotsuki stopped in her tracks to stare at Ginoza. On the other side of her, Sugo raised his hand. “Mine too, Inspector,” he said. “I think most of us Enforcers have gone to see him or Dr Takanashi at one point or another. After all, they’re the only two psychotherapists here.”

“Then how have I not known them all this time?” Shimotsuki said incredulously.

Sugo and Ginoza exchanged glances. “I’m not sure how to put this, Inspector,” Sugo said delicately, “but you haven’t needed to.”

“We Enforcers have scheduled sessions with them, once a week,” Ginoza explained. “Twice a week, if you’re new. After every major assignment we’re required to book extra sessions with them so that our Hues can be monitored.”

Shimotsuki gathered herself and strode on. “And so you should! Latent criminals.”

Sugo shrugged ruefully at Ginoza as they arrived at Takanashi’s office. Ishimoto must have warned her of their approach, because the psychotherapist herself was already waiting for them. She stood with her arms folded, her prickly demeanor at odds with her soft pastel outfit. “Warrant, please,” she said, not even bothering with pleasantries.

With a smirk, Shimotsuki produced the warrant that had arrived on her communicator just seconds before they had entered the office. Takanashi studied it with narrowed eyes, but unable to find any fault with it, she waved it away with undisguised contempt. “I’ll have you know that my client would not have appreciated this invasion of her privacy,” she snapped.

“I understand, Dr Takanashi,” Shimotsuki replied, “but it’s my job. We’ve been tasked to find out what exactly happened last night, and Enforcer Nakasone’s psychological profile might prove to be invaluable information.”

“In incriminating her?” Dr Takanashi accused.

“To incriminate her, we would first need to establish that a crime was committed. Do you have information that we don’t, Doctor?” Shimotsuki’s gaze was steady.

Takanashi flushed. “I think we’re done here, Inspector. I’ll have the full profile sent to you by tonight. Was there anything else you needed?”

“No, that will be all. Thank you for your time.”

Once in the car, Shimotsuki looked self-satisfied as she started the engine. “That went well! Now we have both profiles, though only one full one.” She looked thoughtful. “I wonder if we should have asked for Isa’s profile while we were at it.”

“They’d probably have just given us his basic profile, which we can access from his records with the MWPSB,” Sugo said.

“True. We could always get another warrant…”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Ginoza said. “Right now, it’s getting late and we still need to meet the others.”

“Don’t you tell _me_ what to do!” But it was almost by reflex; Shimotsuki’s mind was elsewhere as she pulled onto the highway. Dr Takanashi’s accusation still stuck in her mind. Of course, the rumors had been circulating since mid-morning, and all versions of them included the main fact that Nakasone had turned on Isa and the targets. Surely Takanashi was simply referring to an account of events that she had heard from the grapevine?

Whatever the case, Shimotsuki didn’t like or trust her, and that alone was reason enough to keep a close eye on her.

***

Kogawa, the electrician, worked for an interior design company based in a nondescript office block in Kita ward. The building was shared with a number of other businesses, so it was not completely cordoned off save for a section off to the side where a number of drones had been deployed to keep passers-by away. As Tsunemori and her team approached, the spectral image of Komissa-chan flickered into view over the drones and launched into its scripted warning against unauthorised entry. Tsunemori ignored it and slipped between the drones.

Division 3 had been briefly assigned to the case before Inspector Hirota gave his statement and the case was reassigned to Division 1. They were the ones who had arrived to oversee the removal of the bodies, a fact which Tsunemori now regretted strongly as she surveyed the scene.

“There’s nothing left,” Hinakawa said in dismay.

Tsunemori nodded, trying not to show her disappointment. She had known that there would probably be little to see after Division 3 and the scanner bots had done their job, but she had been harboring a faint hope that not all of the evidence had been removed. There were still faint bloodstains on the pavement to show where the bodies had lain, but nothing else. She pulled up the photos of the scene that Division 3 had taken the night before, and tried to match them with the evidence before her. “This is where Kogawa and his wife were,” she said, indicating a large stain just in front of a side entrance. “His body was partially covering hers, corroborating Hirota’s statement that she had fallen first. Enforcer Isa was found there.” She walked over to the right of the entrance, trying to recreate the sequence of events in her mind. “And Enforcer Nakasone was there.” She looked up at the roof, shielding her eyes from the late afternoon sun. “It matches so far. It doesn’t look like they fell at the same time that the Kogawas did. But it was a miracle that Isa survived such a fall.” She took one last look around, then went to the entrance and pulled on the glass door. It swung open to reveal a narrow stairwell. “I wonder if this goes up to the roof.”

They ascended in silence, pausing a couple of times to catch their breath. The staircase was clearly meant to serve as a fire escape, but it was so narrow that both of them - not very broad people by any measure - would not have been able to fit shoulder to shoulder on a step. Hinakawa stopped at one of the landings to look over the railings at the street below.

“What’s the matter?”Tsunemori asked.

Hinakawa shook his head - _nothing_ \- but he looked thoughtful. They continued to the roof, where a slight breeze had begun to pick up. The sun was starting to set, casting long shadows over the city. A simple metal rail ran around the roof, with a wide ledge beyond giving way to awful emptiness. Tsunemori put a hand on the rail and hopped it easily. Hinakawa regarded her with something close to awe, but he chose to duck under the railing to join her on the other side.

Keeping a tight grip on the rail, Tsunemori leaned over the edge and peered down, getting her bearings. “Nakasone must have fallen from here. And the Kogawas from there.” A car pulled up on the street below and three tiny figures emerged. Shimotsuki and her team had arrived.

Hinakawa knelt to examine the ground. “ _Onee-san_. Bloodstains.”

He was right. The rust-coloured spots were almost invisible in the grime, but they had not fully sunk into the concrete. Tsunemori rose to scan the ground for more stains as her communicator lit up.

“ _Senpai!_ ” Shimotsuki’s voice sounded, tinny but clear. “Are you on the roof?”

“Yes, but we’ll be done in a bit. In the meantime, can you see if there’s still anyone who hasn’t left work yet in Kogawa’s office? See if we can get an interview with his supervisor.”

“Understood.” Shimotsuki’s profile vanished.

Tsunemori and Hinakawa searched the ledge for more bloodstains. There were some smudges near the edge, which bore out the struggle between Isa and Nakasone. Other than that, however, there was nothing more to be found.

Hinakawa led the way back into the stairwell, but as Tsunemori passed through the door leading to the stairs, she stopped abruptly. Something on the doorframe had caught her eye.

A single smudge, just below eye level, illuminated by the orange glow of the setting sun so that it appeared a deep black.

It was unmistakably blood.

_Someone had made it back down the stairs._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Division 1 compare notes and discover some startling facts about the targets of their investigation.

The mood in Karanomori’s office the next morning was sombre as Division 1 gathered to compare notes. Shimotsuki went first, presenting the psychological profiles of Inspector Hirota Michika and Enforcer Nakasone Kiwa that her team had received from the psychotherapists.

“Hirota Michika, age: 24. Current Hue: midnight blue. Marital status: single. No family history of psychological issues. Has voluntarily sought therapy once at age 16 due to poor academic performance, but his Hue recovered quickly and there has been no recurrence since. Completed university education with top honors and was recommended for the MWPSB Criminal Investigation Division by Sibyl. And that’s all of the useful information.” Shimotsuki blew her breath out in an exasperated huff. “Dr Ishimoto claims that Hirota requested confidentiality, and that his mental survival depends on us not probing further.”

“That’s very inconvenient for us,” Tsunemori noted.

“Yes, but I _also_ got Nakasone’s profile!” Shimotsuki drew up Nakasone’s report on the screen with a triumphant flourish.

“Quick thinking, Inspector,” Ginoza murmured. Sugo stifled a sudden snort of laughter that turned into a coughing fit.

“What was that?” Shimotsuki said sharply, but Ginoza’s expression was completely bland. Sugo became utterly absorbed in examining a hangnail on his little finger.

Shimotsuki gave the pair one last suspicious glare, then turned back to the screen. “Nakasone Kiwa, age: 19. Last known Hue: royal purple.”

“That’s pretty bad,” Kunizuka said in surprise.

“It’s far worse than most Enforcers, but I’ll come to that. She was brought up by a single father. Her mother died of heart failure when she was 6. When she was barely an adolescent she came across the concept of eustress deficiency, and speculated that her mother might have died of it. This sent her in the complete opposite direction, where she tried to occupy herself with as many pursuits as possible. Some of these pursuits were way beyond her abilities, but she pushed herself to achieve them nonetheless, believing that it was the most effective way to stave off eustress deficiency. For example, at age 12 she attempted for two years to teach herself to prove Goldbach’s Conjecture.”

“That’s impossible!” Karanomori exclaimed.

“Maybe, but if you never try, you never know, right? Or so she thought. She was so obsessed with these problems that she dropped out of school. Dr Takanashi’s conclusion was that she began to chase the dopamine rush that came with being able to understand and talk about these things at a level beyond her years. She began to base her own self-worth on the ability to make progress on these problems and pursuits.

"But time and time again she would come up against her intellectual limits. She would fail to crack a code or solve a puzzle, and move on to the next impossible task seeking that sense of validation from adults. As she approached adulthood, even that initial rush from being able to understand difficult concepts began to fade, because she started to seem less like a prodigy. Her Hue began to cloud. She became increasingly suicidal as she felt trapped between the pure white of eustress deficiency, or the pure black of a completely clouded Hue. With this kind of thinking, her Hue eventually clouded over permanently , and after a year of mental care she was reassigned to the Public Safety Bureau as an Enforcer earlier this year.”

That explained the sense of suppressed energy that Tsunemori had always chalked up to to the young woman’s excess of youth. So Nakasone was always feeling the need to try something new and challenging, to the point that she was always fairly vibrating with the need to _do something_. She truly believed that she had to do it, or perhaps literally die trying.

“There’s one more thing,” Shimotsuki added, in a tone that made everyone look up. Her expression was unreadable. “In Dr Takanashi’s reports, it’s clear that about six weeks ago, Nakasone’s Hue began deteriorating again. She was beginning to experience recurring suicidal thoughts. Dr Takanashi thinks this was triggered by a case that Division 2 had closed the week before, in which a woman had died of heart failure, leaving behind two children… including a 7-year-old daughter.”

An uncomfortable silence followed as everyone present tried to digest the information given. Hinakawa was the first to break it. “She thought that history was going to repeat itself. But they’re different. The case they were investigating… is not her family.”

“She was still very young,” Karanomori said, with a heavy sigh. “19 is just barely out of childhood.”

“She was already unbalanced, and it’s looking quite likely that Kogawa, or maybe Isa, said something to send her over the edge - both literally and figuratively,” Tsunemori said thoughtfully. “But the question remains - how is it that she was still deployed to do the job of an Enforcer, with a Hue this clouded? Shouldn’t she have been taken off the roster to undergo mental care? Something doesn’t quite add up.”

“Her Hue’s on the borderline,” Ginoza remarked. “It’s not that clear that she should have been taken off the case. Maybe that’s how she got through.”

“Maybe.” Tsunemori looked doubtful. “But we’re getting nowhere with speculation. Karanomori-san, any luck with the autopsies?”

The autopsies, according to Karanomori and Kunizuka, presented fewer surprises. Injuries sustained were consistent with a fall from a height of about 70 metres, or roughly 14-15 storeys. The injuries were the cause of death in all three of the deceased. As expected, Kogawa had ingested a heavy cocktail of hallucinogens quite recently before his death, which supported the theory that he had been abusing the drugs. That was all that could be gleaned from the autopsies.

“Wait,” Tsunemori said, her sense of unease growing. “Something’s missing.”

The others looked puzzled, but Ginoza’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. That can’t be all. Weren’t there any drugs in Nakasone’s body?”

“No, why should -” Kunizuka began, before she stopped and her eyes widened. Beside her, Karanomori lighted a new cigarette with hands that suddenly seemed a little less steady than a moment before.

“She wasn’t taking her medicine,” Kunizuka realized out loud.

Tsunemori nodded. “With a Hue like that, and seeing a psychotherapist regularly, she should have been on a whole slew of medication.”

“She was,” Shimotsuki confirmed. “It’s all in the report.”

“Well, she might have been prescribed the medicine, but she clearly wasn’t taking them,” said Ginoza.

Tsunemori decided that now was the time to share her own discovery with the team. Using photos provided by Division 3, and Hinakawa’s own pictures from the day before, she quickly filled them in on what they had seen at the site.

“A bloodstain on the door to the roof?” Sugo said incredulously. “Why didn't the spider bots find it?”

“Maybe they weren’t looking for it,” Kunizuka suggested.

“That’s more than possible,” Tsunemori agreed. “After all, the initial assumption was that everything happened at the edge of the roof. The bots would have been deployed to gather evidence there. Division 3 probably didn’t think to have them scour the rest of the roof - or the staircase, either.”

“Was there more blood on the stairs?” Ginoza asked.

Tsunemori shook her head. “Not that we saw, but I’ll get some of the spider bots out there later today, just in case. We need the blood analyzed, anyway, to confirm that it came from one of the people we’re interested in.”

Karanomori exhaled a blue wisp of smoke. “So to sum up, we have an Inspector who may have been lying in his report of the events and an Enforcer who hasn’t been taking her medicine despite a rapidly declining Hue.” She chuckled. “Poor Division 2. I wonder what else we’ll find.”

“All in all, a cut-and-dried case, isn’t it?” Tsunemori said wryly.

What none of them was willing to address just then was exactly what their findings could mean for Division 2, and possibly the entire MWPSB Criminal Investigation Division.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a bit slow going so far! I haven't written a such a long piece of work for many years, and it took a while to get the machinery cranking and set the scene. Hopefully the next chapter will be a little more engaging :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Division 1 is called away to attend to an elevated Area Stress Level at Shibuya, only to find a man who claims to be an Inspector - and who threatens to create a Psycho-Hazard event.

There was not much time to dwell on it, however. The very next day, just as they were settling down to work, an alert came in. Street scanners had picked up an elevated Area Stress Level in the vicinity of the famous Shibuya crosswalk, centered mainly around one individual with an abnormally high Psycho-Pass. Division 1 was assigned to investigate, with Division 3 on standby for additional support.

An alert in the morning was unusual, though not unheard of. Typically, alerts from street scanners tended to occur in the evening or nighttime, not in the early hours of the morning when most of Tokyo was on their way to work or school. The rush hour traffic slowed them down somewhat, and by the time they arrived at the scene, the target had already moved to the Shibuya crosswalk itself. What was worse, there were now _multiple_ targets - there were at least three now with significantly elevated Psycho-Pass levels. It was rapidly turning into a Psycho-Hazard.

Shimotsuki, sick of waiting in traffic, slammed on the brakes a block down from the crosswalk, and she and Tsunemori leapt out of the car to sprint the remaining distance with their Dominators in hand. Behind them, Tsunemori could hear the Enforcers’ transport pull up as well. “Ginoza-san! Sugo-san! Circle around to the other side!” she yelled over her shoulder. She didn’t wait to see if they had heard, but trusted their instincts.

The plaza just outside the Shibuya JR station next to the crosswalk was naturally packed with people heading in to work, and early-morning tourists taking pictures of a location they had seen in countless movies. Right now, however, they were all milling around something, or somebody. CID drones on the scene were already attempting crowd management, but their efforts were limited in success as their presence attracted even more gawkers. Over the heads of the gathering crowd, Tsunemori glimpsed a hand waving something. Was that a - _Dominator!?_

She pushed through the crowd with uncharacteristic force, Shimotsuki in tow. As they emerged on the other side, Tsunemori stopped cold.

In the middle stood a man dressed in a dark gray suit, brandishing what was unmistakably a Dominator. He was not aiming it at his audience; instead, he was gesturing with it to emphasize his words. “The Sibyl System is _lying_ to you!” he bellowed. “Take it from me, an Inspector with the Public Safety Bureau! It’s holding you back from your own potential!”

She raised her own Dominator at him at the exact moment he spotted the two Inspectors and swung around to point his weapon at them. “ _You!_ ” he shrieked. “Dogs of the Sibyl System! _Stay back!_ ”

The crowd gasped and drew back. Tsunemori found herself conflicted. A real Dominator could not hurt her - it would lock itself once it read her Psycho-Pass, but this man was clearly not an Inspector that she recognized, and so that could not possibly be a real Dominator. Still, she could not discount the possibility that it was a real and deadly weapon of some sort.

At the same time, her own Dominator came to life, its prerecorded voice sounding clearly in her ear. “Crime Coefficient is 358. Enforcement mode: Lethal Eliminator. Aim carefully and eliminate the target.”

Tsunemori signalled to Shimotsuki to hold her fire. She was acutely aware of the crowd’s presence. Until Division 1 arrived, the crowd had been relatively calm, mainly gathering around to listen to the man’s speech. Their presence, however, effectively escalated the situation, and the Lethal Eliminator mode could only make things worse. The image of a stampeding crowd spooked by the sight of liquefying flesh flashed through her mind, and she shook her head to clear it. She had to find some way to disable the man peacefully - and that meant without the Dominator.

She raised her hands slowly, making sure to show that her finger was nowhere near the trigger of her Dominator. “I’m here to talk.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the members of Division 3 easing themselves to the fringes of the crowd to flank herself and Shimotsuki. But where were her own Enforcers?

The man laughed bitterly. “Talk? _Talk?_ What’s there to say?” He hefted his weapon in his hand, and addressed the crowd again. “I’m an Inspector with the PSB, but I’m not like _them_.”He waved vaugely in Tsunemori’s direction. “They’re blind dogs of Sibyl. They do whatever the System tells them to. They have no minds of their own. But I’m here to tell you that _I know_.”

“Know what?” Tsunemori prodded, trying to pin down his meandering thoughts.

“That it’s all a _lie!_ ” the man shrieked. “The Sibyl System is holding us back from our potential! It knows nothing about us. It’s no oracle. It can’t tell you what you should be doing with your life. I know the truth. _I know what the Sibyl System is_.”

Tsunemori felt her breath catch. _Could this man really know?_

“He speaks the truth!” a middle-aged woman cried from the crowd. She stepped forward, clearly agitated. “Sibyl said that I was best suited to be an accountant. I’ve been an accountant for 25 years. Nothing but accounting for 25 years! And nothing but accounting till the day I die!”

“Crime Coeffecient: 307,” Shimotsuki muttered to Tsunemori.

“I’ve been a sanitation worker for 40 years!” another voice shouted from the audience. “I wanted to be an architect!” The crowd began to murmur.

“There you have it!” the man in the gray suit announced gleefully to the audience. “We all have our hopes and dreams, don’t we? But the Sibyl System dashed them all. Because Sibyl knows best, doesn’t it _?_ But I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t. _Because there is no Sibyl System._ ”

Tsunemori let out the breath she hadn’t realized that she was holding. The man didn’t know, after all.

“The Sibyl System,” the man declared, “is nothing more than the government itself. A group of people who allocate jobs according to their whims, but they’re too cowardly to tell us that. So they make this computer called the Sibyl System, and tells us it can read our minds and know us better than we know ourselves, and convinces us that we like our jobs.”

Tsunemori’s communicator lit up. It was one of the Division 3 Inspectors. “Division 1, _what are you doing?_ ” he demanded angrily. “This man is creating a Psycho-Hazard! The Area Stress Level is through the roof! Take him down!”

“Give me some time,” Tsunemori replied, making an effort to keep her voice calm. “If we were to use the Dominator on him now, we could have a stampede on our hands.”

“Every minute he’s talking is a minute someone’s Hue is getting cloudy!” he insisted, but he sounded less sure of himself now. Still, he was right. Time was a luxury. Tsunemori turned her attention back to the target. With a Crime Coefficient at more 50 points above the critical level, there was no way she could talk him back down to a safe number. And there were more suspects in the crowd.The accountant, maybe the sanitation worker. She couldn’t possibly talk all of them down.

_How do you lower the stress level of a crowd?_

She was speaking again before she knew it. “Show me your badge, Inspector.”

Shimotsuki gaped at her. “ _Senpai_ , what are you doing? He’s not a real Inspector!”

Tsunemori ignored her. “Show me your badge, Inspector,” she repeated. She held out her own badge, which unfurled digitally to show her identification. “If you are with the CID, you would have a badge like this. Show it to me.”

“I have the Dominator!” the man blustered.

“That means nothing. You might have hacked one, or modified another weapon to look like the Dominator.” Tsunemori’s voice remained firm. “Show me your badge.”

Her communicator lit up again, but this time it was Hinakawa. “ _Onee-san, t_ he Area Stress Level has stopped rising.”

So she was on the right track. The muttering of the crowd shifted in tone. She caught fragments of their whispered conversations - “That guy, is he for real?” “Why doesn’t he have a badge?” “So he’s been having us on all this time?”

The man in the gray suit cast about desperately, sensing that he was losing his hold over his audience. “Wait! Wait! I’m telling the truth! I’m with the MWPSB! Listen to me!”

Then his eyes narrowed, and for a split second time seemed to slow as he raised his weapon and aimed it at Tsunemori.

But before he could complete the action, a gloved hand swung his aim skyward. In one smooth motion, Ginoza disarmed him, kicked his knees out from under him and and twisted his arms behind his back. “You are under arrest,” the Enforcer informed him calmly. Elsewhere, Sugo and Kunizuka had similarly restrained the other two suspects.

There was a brief silence, and then, the crowd began to applaud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always thought there was so much room left to explore in the original premise of Psycho-Pass. If Sibyl determines everyone's job due to psychological profiling, wouldn't there be a significant proportion of the population who's disgruntled at the job assigned to them? Like, someone could have a psyche best suited for menial labour, but harbour secret dreams of being a rock star, even if they could never really be able to handle the stress that comes with such a lifestyle. Wouldn't such a person's Hue be easily clouded if enough attention was drawn to it? And if there were enough of such people in a crowd - say, the type that you might see in early-morning rush hour - wpuldn't a Psycho-Hazard spreading event be trivially easy to create?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Enforcer from Division 3 confesses that he has been adversely affected by recent events. Later, Ginoza and Tsunemori have a short heart-to-heart talk.

The bogus Inspector was quickly identified as Sawada Motoichi, an unemployed man in his fifties who had just the day before quit his job of insurance salesman. He had harbored dreams since childhood of joining law enforcement, an ambition that took on the shape of joining the MWPSB CID as he reached adulthood. However, Sibyl had determined his psychological profile as one best suited for sales, and so he had taken on a series of retail and customer service jobs. At his last job, he had asked for a promotion to regional sales manager, and his boss had laughed in his face, telling him that Sibyl had determined he was a salesman and he should stay one. That, apparently, was the last straw. He quit his job, and took to the streets the very next day to air his grievances against the Sibyl System in public. The “Dominator” had been an ordinary handgun he bought on the black market, illegally modified to resemble an actual Dominator from a distance, but still perfectly capable of being discharged.

“So our good Inspector Tsunemori was taking a very real risk when she drew out the encounter as long as she did,” Sugo observed, leaning back in his seat as he stirred more sugar into his coffee. “The guy might have just lost it at any time and fired it into the crowd.”

“Or at her,” Ginoza reminded him, taking a sip of his own coffee. “Which he almost did.”

“That was a real gamble,” Sugo agreed. “I imagine she’s got to justify her actions to the Chief today. Division 3 was definitely _not_ happy with her yesterday.”

“Speaking of the devil, here comes Ogamo,” Ginoza warned in a low voice.

The man approaching their table at the otherwise empty cafeteria was one of the Enforcers with Division 3. He was a bulky man, with a square jaw, but usually known as being fairly affable. Right now, however, his expression was troubled. “Mind if I join you?” he asked, tray of food in hand.

“Please do,” Ginoza invited him cordially, indicating an empty seat.

“Thank you.” Ogamo seated himself and made some show of preparing to eat. Sugo and Ginoza waited patiently, making idle chitchat between themselves over the dredges of their coffee while they waited for Ogamo to spill whatever was on his mind.

Eventually, during a lull in the conversation, Ogamo broke in. “Uh, about yesterday. Your Inspector was very… brave.”

“She’s been known to pull stunts like that a few times,” Ginoza acknowledged.

Ogamo looked unhappy. “It was a good thing she did what she did, though. One of my Inspectors filed a complaint against her handling of the situation, but I personally don’t agree with him.” He looked at the ceiling and sighed. “You know, I think I almost got taken in by that guy.”

“You what?” Sugo asked, startled.

“Yeah, even before this my Hue was already affected by that case. You know, the one you guys are investigating, with Division 2?”

“We’re familiar,” Ginoza responded dryly. “But how’s that case having any effect on your Hue?”

“Well,” Ogamo said around a mouthful of udon, “in that case of yours, an Enforcer turned on another Enforcer in the middle of an active call, right?”

“Is that what they’re saying?” Ginoza hedged.

“Well, it’s one of the things I’ve heard. That after talking to the target, Enforcer Isa and Enforcer Nakasone killed each other for no reason at all. That gave me nightmares, it did. I dreamed that my own colleagues turned on me just when I needed them most to have my back.” He sighed again. “I’ve been feeling like I can’t trust anybody since I heard about it. And then I got to thinking that I really regret being an Enforcer. Not that it was my real choice, though. It was just the best out of all the options given to me after… yeah. You know. And then came that guy… talking about how Sibyl doesn’t exist… for a moment, I really, really got hopeful. I thought maybe, if Sibyl didn’t exist, then all this about Inspectors and Enforcers could be just made up. Maybe I’m not really a latent criminal, y’know? Wouldn’t that be great?”

“That’s just a daydream,” Sugo said gently. “You know the Sibyl System is real.”

“Yeah, and that’s why I needed to tell you I’m glad your Inspector handled it the way she did. I really needed to hear that the guy was a fraud, from his own mouth. And, y’know, I saw his Crime Coefficient. I know what would’ve happened if she had pulled the trigger, and that wouldn’t have been pretty for me, if not for the whole situation.” Ogamo gave them both a weak smile. “Some days I feel like I’m not really cut out to be an Enforcer.”

“That’s something you should be telling your therapist,” Ginoza advised him.

“Yup, I probably should, now that you mention it.” The large man stood and gathered up his tray. “Thanks for listening, you guys. And uh… if you can pass my gratitude on to your Inspector, that would be much appreciated.”

***

He found her in the break room, alone, nursing a paper cup filled with tea that had long gone cold. He headed to the vending machine and got himself his third coffee of the day before buying another cup of hot tea. “Did you get in trouble?” he asked quietly, handing her the fresh cup of tea.

Tsunemori accepted it with a small smile and shook her head. “I had to write a report, but the Chief agreed that it was probably the best thing to do in that situation. And she was… grateful.”

“She’s not the only one full of gratitude. Ogamo - one of the Division 3 Enforcers - dropped by just now to convey his appreciation for your handling of the case yesterday.”

She looked up in mild surprise. “Ogamo-san?”

“Yeah, he told us his Hue had been negatively affected by the rumors surrounding the Division 2 case. And that he had almost been swayed by Sawada’s speech.” Ginoza studied her expression as he sipped his coffee. “I don’t think you need to be told again, but you did the right thing.”

She gave him another faint smile. “Thank you, Ginoza-san. I’m all right, it’s just… how it all feels so awfully familiar.”

“... Makishima.”

“Yes. There’s evidence that Sawada was heavily influenced by some of Makishima’s earlier writings, and that seems to have contributed towards his disillusionment with Sibyl. Except he came to a different conclusion from Makishima. He’s not criminally asymptomatic, so he exists within the Sibyl System.”

“So where Makishima felt unseen by Sibyl, Sawada felt far too visible,” Ginoza noted.

“Yes. And since he felt too visible in the eyes of Sibyl, he tried to discount the existence of Sibyl itself.” Tsunemori took a small sip of her tea. “It’s not unexpected. What _is_ unexpected, though, is just how many people in the crowd yesterday seemed so susceptible to his exhortations. Even Ogamo-san.”

“That did seem very strange. In 30 minutes the number of elevated Psycho-Passes had tripled. And there are others that probably didn’t rise to a level that triggered the street scanners.”

“Like Ogamo-san’s?”

“Ogamo’s was already over the threshold,” he reminded her gently. “Like all Enforcers’.”

“You’re right.” Tsunemori set her tea down and rubbed her eyes. “I’m sorry, I haven’t been getting enough sleep this week. Between the Division 2 case and this one, it’s been non-stop.”

He regarded her with concern. “Remember to take care of your own Hue as well.”

“I’m all right, Ginoza-san. You worry too much.” She smiled, but then the smile faded as she returned to the thoughts that had occupied her before he had entered. “I wonder…” she said, and hesitated before continuing, “I wonder what _he_ would have done.”

Ginoza didn’t need to ask who she was referring to.

“He, alone, understood Makishima better than any of us. Maybe what seems dark to us would’ve been bright as day to him. Maybe… he could have seen through Sawada more quickly, or found some way to calm the crowd first.”

“He’d have fired into the crowd to take down the other two with the Dominator’s Non-Lethal Paralyzer mode,” Ginoza said bluntly. “And then he’d physically wrestle Sawada to the ground. And afterwards he’d tell you that he absolutely needed to take direct action to keep the crowd from turning ugly.” As Tsunemori looked at him in shock, he gave a rueful grin. “I’ve known that guy for a long time, too.”

She chuckled softly. “I guess you have, at that.” She rose and tossed her two cups of tea. “Thank you, Ginoza-san.”

“Anytime,” he responded.

She started to leave the break room, but as she passed him, she stopped and looked directly into his eyes. “Ginoza-san,” she said, very seriously. “Please look after yourself as well.”

He was surprised, but made an effort not to show it. “Our Hues are regularly monitored. I’m in no danger.”

“Yes,” she said, looking away, “but please be careful anyway. I have a very bad feeling about this case.” She didn’t specify which of the two cases she was talking about, and he didn’t ask.

She walked out, leaving him with his cold coffee and his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Foreshadowing!? 
> 
> It's finally getting to the point where the characters and story write themselves! It's like getting second wind. I might go back and edit the first few chapters. Thank you for reading this far! Any feedback at this point would be much appreciated.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ogamo, the Enforcer from Division 3, has a session with Dr Takanashi. Meanwhile, a new development in the Division 2 case has Shimotsuki impatient to find the truth.

Ogamo sat nervously in Dr Takanashi’s office. Despite the sweltering summer heat outside, or perhaps because of it, the air-conditioning in the room seemed to be far too cold. Even so, Ogamo found himself breaking out in a cold sweat.

Dr Takanashi seemed to notice his discomfort. “Do you need me to turn up the temperature?” she asked.

Ogamo shook his head. “I’m fine. I’m even sweating, see?” He held out his clammy hands with a wan smile.

Takanashi nonetheless made adjustments to the temperature in the room. “It’s important to me that my clients are comfortable. Please let me know if you still feel too cold.” She returned to her seat opposite Ogamo and resumed their conversation. “So coming back to what you said before. You think that this last case you were involved in has affected your ability to carry out your duties effectively, is that correct?”

“Something like that,” Ogamo mumbled, picking at his fingernails. “I was talking to a couple of the people from Division 1 yesterday, and it helped me to realize that some of the things I told you about before were a bit more serious than - “

“I’m sorry,” Takanashi interrupted, “did you say you told your coworkers about what we’ve discussed before?”

“No, I mean, I didn’t tell them what we said. We were just talking about the latest case that Division 3 was supporting Division 1 on, and it just led me to realize something.” Ogamo looked distressed. “Should I not have talked to them at all?”

“No, no, I just misunderstood you,” Takanashi assured him. “I thought you’d told your colleagues about your Hue, which I understand is a major taboo among the Enforcers, so I was surprised, that’s all.”

“It is,” Ogamo confirmed. “Nobody talks about their own Hue much, because it might cause others to think too much about theirs and then everyone’s Hue would deteriorate. Or something like that, right?”

“Something like that,” agreed Takanashi. “I’m sorry, I interrupted you. Please continue.”

“Right, so I was talking to Division 1 and it made me realize that I should be telling you about some of the things on my mind lately. Like how you told me the rumors surrounding the Nakasone case had brought out my latent insecurities? It actually carried over to the latest case I was in. I… almost believed some of the things the suspect was saying.”

“What did the suspect say? I’m not familiar with the case.”

“Oh, right. The guy was anti-Sibyl. He told the crowd that Sibyl didn’t exist, that it was a government conspiracy made up to justify their decisions in assigning people their jobs.” Ogamo squirmed uncomfortably. “It sounds dumb now, saying it here, but… I really wanted to believe it.”

“Why did you want to believe it?” asked Dr Takanashi gently.

“Because… I… don’t really think I wanted to be an Enforcer.” Ogamo’s voice sank to a whisper. “Doc, you know my history. You know how I became an Enforcer.”

“You were in nursing,” Dr Takanashi said, without judgement. “You believed that you were in the wrong job, though Sibyl had determined that you had all the traits necessary for nursing. Your lack of confidence became manifested in small mistakes in your work, which multiplied until eventually, through negligence, you indirectly caused the deaths of two elderly people. Your Hue, which was already poor, became irreversibly clouded when you discovered that you could be charged with involuntary manslaughter, but as you were eventually not charged in court, the Sibyl System deemed you a latent criminal suited for the work of an Enforcer.”

Ogamo nodded, tears welling in his eyes. “Doc, I’m scared. I don’t think I can do this, any more than I could be a good nurse. I feel trapped by Sibyl. I didn’t want to be a nurse, and I don’t want to be an Enforcer. I don’t…” he choked on his words, and continued, “I don’t want to be a latent criminal.”

Dr Takanashi regarded him from behind her gold-rimmed glasses, not without sympathy. “It’s understandable to feel that way,” she said. “In fact, as I’ve told you before, it’s quite normal. Your declining performance as a nurse was a self-fulfilling prophecy: you believed that you weren’t suited for nursing, and therefore became a poor nurse, even though you were objectively a good fit. In other words, you engaged in an act of self-sabotage, which is something so common that some have even argued that it’s in human nature to do it.”

Ogamo raised haunted eyes to her. “If it’s so common, then how do people even survive? How have humans survived thousands of years to be here, if we’re constantly sabotaging ourselves?”

“It’s common, but I didn’t say it was dominant. Humankind has mainly been driven by the need to preserve the species, to survive, to propagate. But the tendency to self-destruct is just as natural as the urge to create. So now, you’re doing again what you did as a nurse: you’re setting yourself up to fail at your job.”

He groaned and sank his head into his hands. “It’s the same. If I fail in my job now, someone else could die. An Inspector, or one of the other Enforcers, or an innocent bystander.” He looked pleadingly at her. “Doc, help me. I’m not a criminal. I didn’t want the two old folks to die, and I don’t want anyone else to die. I don’t even want to pull the trigger on an actual criminal. How can I be an Enforcer?”

Dr Takanashi sighed. “That’s not something we can resolve in one session alone, but we can at least start to work on it.” She tapped out some notes in her computer. “And the first thing we can do is to increase the dose of your current medication, since it’s clearly not handling your anxiety well. If this doesn’t work out, I’ll switch you to another one.” She tapped a card on a reader, then handed it to him. “Give this to the pharmacist on your way out, and set up an appointment at the front desk for early next week.”

“Thanks, Doc,” he said gratefully, rising to his feet. “I feel better knowing something can be done at all. I don’t know what I’d do without these sessions.”

“You’ll do fine,” Dr Takanashi said, smiling.

***

The dawn of the next day brought a new development on the Division 2 case. The blood sample that was found on the roof doorway to the staircase was confirmed to be a 99.98% match to Enforcer Isa Michiaki.

The revelation created a stir in the Division 1 office. Shimotsuki’s first reaction was to declare loudly that she was going to march down to Dr Ishimoto’s office and demand answers from Inspector Hirota, but Tsunemori held her back. “Let’s think this through first,” she urged her partner. “There might be other reasons why Isa’s blood was on that doorway. For instance, could he have cut himself _before_ going up onto the roof?”

“If he did, it would have been a pretty fresh cut to bleed like that,” Sugo ventured. “Or it could have been a reopening of an old wound. Either way, it suggests that there was some violence, or a struggle, before going up on to the roof.”

“The bloodstain was found on the outside of the doorway,” Hinakawa pointed out. “That’s why we didn’t notice it at first. It’s consistent with someone putting their hand on the door frame as they entered the stairwell.”

“And we will keep sitting here flinging theories at each other unless we talk to the one eyewitness we have,” Shimotsuki seethed. “Hirota _lied_ when he gave his statement. Isa didn’t fall off the roof, he walked down the stairs. It’s the most obvious and likely possibility. Why aren’t any of you willing to even consider that!?”

There was an awkward pause. Tsunemori took a deep breath. “It’s not that we’re not willing to consider it, Mika-chan. Mainly, we’re _assuming_ that Hirota was lying. Barging in to a mental care facility with accusations based on assumptions won’t really get us anywhere, and at worst could get us accused of causing the permanent deterioration of Hirota’s Hue.”

“It’s also not that clear that Isa was the one who went down the stairs,” Kunizuka added. “After all, he sustained injuries consistent with falling from a height, too.”

“So what do we do, talk the case into solving itself?” scoffed Shimotsuki. “ _Senpai_ , I’m not going to do anything stupid, but I think we need to talk to Hirota. Unless we can find other witnesses, he’s the only one we’ve got, and without talking to him, all we have is useless conjecture.” She softened a little. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to accuse him of anything without proof. I just want to see what he has to say. At least we need to know if his statement can be believed.”

Tsunemori considered it briefly, then nodded. “All right. I trust you, Mika-chan.”

Shimotsuki smirked. “Of _course_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took a while, had a bit of writer's block. I have a general idea of where this is going, but the details of what happens in what order tends to take a while to fall into place. And if I'm doing this right, you too should have a pretty good idea of where this is going :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsunemori has a talk with Chief Kasei, and Kunizuka and Karanomori make a discovery.

“I received a second complaint. This one from Dr Ishimoto.” Chief Kasei steepled her fingers. “That’s two in the course of a week, Inspector Tsunemori.”

Tsunemori didn’t budge. “We are simply carrying out our duties as we see fit. You tasked us with solving the Division 2 case, and we’re doing what we need to to achieve that. Inspector Shimotsuki needed to talk to Inspector Hirota to ascertain the veracity of his statement in light of new evidence.”

The Chief sighed. “That may be so, but Dr Ishimoto is adamant that no one is to speak to Inspector Hirota. He says that he has advised your division as such, but your people chose to disregard his professional recommendations and continued to harass his client. That’s the central focus of his complaint.”

“We had no choice,” Tsunemori explained. “There were no other witnesses we could turn to. Besides, Inspector Shimotsuki did manage to verify one thing: Hirota is currently in an unresponsive state. He could not respond to any external stimuli.” She leaned forward intently. “This is highly unusual. Even if Inspector Hirota witnessed the unexpected deaths of his own Enforcers, this is something that many of us have to do in the line of our work. In taking up our jobs, we understood that death would be a part of it. He shouldn’t be _this_ intensely affected.” She paused and looked Chief Kasei in the eye. “Did _you_ do something to him?”

“We selected him to be an Inspector because he had the traits that best suited this job,” Kasei replied evasively.

“That’s not what I asked,” Tsunemori pressed. “If he did indeed have the traits for this job, then he shouldn’t have been so badly affected by this incident. We see far worse things in our daily work. Why have the deaths of his Enforcers rendered him catatonic?”

Chief Kasei seemed to hesitate, and her eyes went blank, as if she were consulting with unseen forces. Then she seemed to snap back to attention. “We, none of us, have tampered with Inspector Hirota. In fact, he has been in this state since he returned to the NONA Tower after the incident. He was barely coherent when he came in, and his statement had to be taken through Dr Ishimoto. His condition deteriorated rapidly soon after and he has been catatonic since.”

“Through _Dr Ishimoto_? Sorry, did you say Hirota’s statement didn’t come directly from him?” Tsunemori’s outward demeanor was still calm, but her mind was racing.

“To be frank, it’s one of the reasons why I asked you to investigate. Aside from the question of whether the Division 3 Enforcers did indeed attack one another, we also found Hirota’s behavior… strange. Enforcers go to the in-house mental care facility for the monitoring of their Hue. Inspectors do not, because they have the freedom to seek their mental care elsewhere as needed. We were initially less concerned, because one could argue that Hirota sought in-house therapy due to his mental state at the time, which required urgent care. But when he had not been discharged by the next day - and we received word that he was unresponsive - we suspected that something else might be going on.” Chief Kasei leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “There are signs of a new, emerging anti-Sibyl movement. It’s still in its infancy, but its members are so dispersed, so far-flung throughout society that it’s hard for us to track. There is currently not even a name for this movement, and not much is known about them other than the fact that they want the dissolution of Sibyl.”

“Are you saying that members of this movement might have been involved in putting Inspector Hirota in his current state? That’s quite a jump to make.”

“No,” Chief Kasei said evenly. “We think that he might be a member of this movement.”

Tsunemori felt her jaw drop. “That’s mad! What, are you accusing him of putting _himself_ in a coma, just to bring down the reputation of Sibyl!?”

“We accuse him of nothing,” Kasei said flatly. “If there is a link, then it is for you to uncover it, Inspector Tsunemori. But whatever it is, it has to be done soon, because with every passing day, there is the potential for more discord to be sown among Inspectors and Enforcers alike.” She turned away. “That will be all. Return to your duties, Inspector. And see to it that I do not receive a third complaint about Division 1.”

***

The door to Karanomori’s office slid open, and to her surprise, Kunizuka stood in the doorway. Her expression was calm, but under her composure, Karanomori thought she could detect an uncharacteristic turbulence.

She waved Kunizuka to an empty seat. “Something on your mind?”

Kunizuka kissed her on the forehead and sank into the proffered chair. “Thanks. It’s been a long day.”

“Thinking of _destressing_ later?” Karanomori said mischievously.

That managed to elicit a half smile from Kunizuka. “I’ll definitely think about it.” Her expression turned serious again. “But that’s not what I came here for… Shion, do you still have those photos from the crime scene?”

“The crime scene?… Oh, you mean the electrician’s office block?” Karanomori’s fingers were already flying over the keyboard, and as she tapped a key, the main screen switched to show a directory of images. “What are you looking for?”

“I’m not really sure,” confessed Kunizuka. Her gaze seemed far away. “It’s the bloodstain on the doorway. Something about that’s been bugging me.”

“That it was undiscovered by Division 3?” Karanomori guessed.

“You think so, too?” Kunizuka leaned forward. “Shion, it’s far too neat. One single bloodstain, unnoticed by Division 3, and no other evidence to tell us what really happened.”

“So you think it might be left there on purpose, as some kind of misdirection?”

“Maybe… But that doesn’t feel right, either.” Kunizuka sighed. “But I don’t have anything else other than gut feel. That’s why I haven’t said anything to anyone else yet. But I thought that you could tell me if I’m on the right track.”

“I can show you the pictures taken by Division 3 again.” Karanomori pulled them up, and the two of them pored over the details of each image in silence, trying to find an overlooked clue - a bloodstain, a footprint, anything to indicate what Isa might have done on entering the stairwell.

At the end, Kunizuka threw up her hands. “I got nothing. There’s really no other evidence other than the one single bloodstain.”

Karanomori grinned. “Actually, there is something.” She brought up a picture of the stairwell and magnified it. “Look closely, love. Notice anything?”

“I thought the whole point of this is that we didn’t notice anything,” Kunizuka said wryly.

“Well, yes,” Karanomori chuckled, “but you see, that’s a clue in itself. The stairwell is _incredibly_ clean. It’s a fire escape - people don’t usually take these stairs, so there’s no reason to keep it particularly clean.”

“Overzealous janitor?” Kunizuka guessed.

“Interesting notion, but take a look at this.” Karanomori brought up two more images and flipped through all three as she spoke. “This is from the 14th storey - the stairwell just inside the doorway of the roof. This is the 13th storey stairwell. And this -” she switched to the second image - “is the 12th storey stairwell.”

The contrast was striking. The 12th storey stairwell looked like an ordinary fire escape, its surfaces lined with a thin film of street grime. The 13th and 14th storey stairwells, while still bearing some traces of dirt, had evidently been recently cleaned.

“I hadn’t noticed that,” admitted Kunizuka. “I was so invested in looking for specific clues that I didn’t realize the stairwells were different.”

“That’s what I love about you,” laughed Karanomori. “You’re so used to working with details that it’s really easy to surprise you with the big picture.”

Kunizuka tried to look offended, but she had to laugh too. “I do focus a bit too much on the small stuff, don’t I? Maybe it’s a side effect of working with robots.”

“As long as you don’t turn into one,” Karanomori teased.

Kunizuka dropped another affectionate kiss on her. “No chance of that with you around. I owe you one.”

“My room, after dinner,” Karanomori proposed playfully.

Kunizuka was already halfway out the door, but she turned to flash a smile at the analyst. “I’ll be there - _with_ dinner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a long break from writing to get some thoughts in order, but I think it might be a good time to start wrapping up the plot.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Division 1 gets closer to solving the case, but at what cost?

Ginoza sat patiently in Ishimoto’s waiting room. He was early for his appointment, as always, but he didn’t mind the wait. It gave him time to gather his thoughts and plan ahead for his session. He briefly debated whether to ask Ishimoto about Hirota, but decided that it was more prudent to keep the session to its original aims.

He closed his eyes and leaned back against his chair. Division 1 had been working on their current case for two weeks now. It consumed his every waking moment, invaded his dreams, when he had the time to sleep. Sure, it wasn’t as grotesque as some of the other cases he had ever worked on - _the Specimen Case_ , his mind whispered, even as he immediately flinched away from the thought. It was too late, however; the memories began to flood in, unbidden. _Sasayama. Kogami. Makishima._ He took a deep, slow breath, held it and counted to four, then let it out through pursed lips - _whoosh._

Kogami. Where was he now? What was he doing at this very moment? What would he have made of this case? Ginoza didn’t often allow himself to think of the man he once considered his closest friend, but he couldn’t help but wonder if Kogami could have brought new insight now. He had always known that Kogami was the better detective, and although he wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone at the time, he had tried to emulate some of Kogami’s methods back when the two of them were Inspectors. It was this elevation of his friend that had made Kogami’s fall even more devastating in Ginoza’s eyes, and cemented his resolve to avoid going down the same path.

He wondered if some of Kogami’s old methods would work now. _Put yourself in the mind of the suspect. What would he have done?_ The problem was, with their current case, he wasn’t even sure who the suspects were. Hirota, the Inspector? Isa, the Enforcer? Or Nakasone, the one who had allegedly snapped? Someone else?

_Dr Ishimoto?_

As if on cue, the door to the therapist’s office slid open, and Ogamo, the Division 3 Enforcer, emerged.

Ginoza’s first response was mild surprise. _Wasn’t Ogamo seeing Dr Takanashi, not Ishimoto?_

His second was a sharp surge of concern that brought him to his feet. Ogamo looked _terrible._ He seemed to have lost weight, and his large frame seemed to collapse in on itself. His eyes were hollow and haunted. He stared at Ginoza, and for a second didn’t seem to recognize him. Then something seemed to click in his mind. “Ginoza-san!”

“Ogamo. Are you okay?” Ginoza started to reach out to the man, but he recoiled so violently that Ginoza immediately withdrew his hand. “Are you okay?” he repeated, but softly and deliberately, as if speaking to a small child.

“I- I’m-” Ogamo stammered. He seemed to gather himself, and tried again. “I’m fine. Been having a bad reaction to one of the medications, so Dr Takanashi referred me here. Didn’t know you’ve been seeing Dr Ishimoto.” He cast around vaguely. “Well, I gotta go. See you around.” He left, almost in a daze.

Ginoza stared after him. Behind him, Dr Ishimoto appeared in the doorway of his office, and at that exact moment Ginoza’s communicator beeped.

As Ginoza excused himself to take the call, the psychotherapist’s expression was unreadable.

***

Tsunemori was troubled. The evidence was mounting before her, and it was plainly evident that the case she had set out to investigate had warped into something far, far more ominous. She was beginning to make out, vaguely, the blurred outlines of what must be the truth.

With Kunizuka and Karanomori’s newest revelation, the sequence of events on the roof of the office building on that night two weeks ago had completely changed. The narrative that had been constructed by Hirota - or possibly Dr Ishimoto - now lay in shambles.

The question was, what could replace it?

She cleared her throat and addressed the members of Division 1 assembled before her. “Let’s recap, then. What we were told about the case has been unreliable all along. Firstly: all information we had about the events on the roof came from Dr Ishimoto, not Inspector Hirota. Secondly: Enforcer Isa had left the roof alive. Thirdly: an unknown person, possibly Isa or maybe even Hirota, cleaned up evidence from the stairwells of the top two floors.”

“That’s stupid,” grumbled Shimotsuki. She had been in a bad mood since the Chief rebuked her for harassing Ishimoto and his patients, but also rather more subdued than usual. “Where’d they get cleaning stuff? Borrowed it from the janitor? How long would it have taken them to clean up?”

“How did you know that Ishimoto provided Hirota’s statement?” Kunizuka asked.

“I have a reliable source,” Tsunemori answered evasively. “Anyway, what’s more important is that we now know that something happened on the 13th and 14th floors, in addition to the struggle on the roof. Something that needed to be covered up. Erased.”

There was a long, uneasy silence as they turned the facts of the case over in their minds. Tsunemori could feel a knot forming in the pit of her stomach as she began to see, dimly, what they were dealing with.

“Let’s say that events unfolded the way we were told at first,” she said, thinking aloud. “Kogawa, the electrician, goes up on the roof and threatens to kill his wife. Inspector Hirota arrives with Enforcers Nakasone and Isa. Hirota stays on the ground while Nakasone and Isa go up on to the roof to talk the electrician down. But that’s where the evidence begins to tell a different story.

“Maybe Nakasone did snap. After all, she hadn’t been taking her medication, and her Hue was already dangerously clouded. Perhaps Kogawa goaded her, and she effectively killed him by pushing him off the roof. Isa confronts her after this. There's a struggle. Nakasone falls off the roof in the fight.

“Now Isa is left. He makes his way down the stairs and is met by -”

She stopped, shocked into silence by the direction her thoughts were taking her.

“He’s met by Inspector Hirota, who never meant for Isa to make it off the roof alive,” Hinakawa said softly. “Inspector Hirota either fights Enforcer Isa or forces him to jump off the building. At the scene, I noticed that anything, or anyone, who fell over the railing of the stairwell would land exactly in the spot where Enforcer Isa was found.”

“And all that’s left is for Hirota to clean up any inconvenient evidence and return to the NONA tower, where Ishimoto took him in immediately,” Shimotsuki finished.

Sugo rubbed his temples. “This is madness. You’re saying that an Inspector possibly covered up evidence of a crime, maybe even killed an Enforcer who hadn’t shown an elevated Psycho-Pass. That’s huge. And to top it off, _my therapist_ could be covering the whole thing up.”

“He’s not just your therapist,” Kunizuka reminded him. “Half of us depend on him, too.”

Tsunemori felt a strange panic rising. She was not someone who got anxious easily, but the enormity of this case was almost overwhelming. It had implications on the entire MWPSB. If word of this got out, there would be chaos.

The faces of her team were now turned to her as they awaited her instructions on their next move. She found that she could barely meet their eyes. They were some of the best that the MWPSB had, and they looked to her for guidance and accepted her leadership. Not unquestioningly, of course; she considered them all her equals, like Shimotsuki, and in some cases were even once her superior, like -

“Where’s Ginoza-san?” she said abruptly.

There was a brief moment of confusion before Sugo said, shakily, “He has an appointment with Dr Ishimoto today.”

“Shimotsuki!” Tsunemori snapped, but her partner was already on her communicator. The relief in the room was palpable as Ginoza’s profile lit up in answer.

“Ginoza here,” his voice sounded clearly through the communicator. “Is there some emergency?”

“Get back here right now!” Shimotsuki ordered. “We’re having a meeting!”

“I’ve got a scheduled appointment for a check-up,” Ginoza said, bafflement in his voice. “What -”

And then his profile went dark.

“ _Ginoza!_ ” Shimotsuki yelled, but connection could not be re-established. Sugo left the room without another word at a dead run, Kunizuka and Shimotsuki trailing after him.

Tsunemori almost followed them, but Hinakawa stopped her. “ _Onee-chan_ ,” he said, urgently. “Don’t.”

She started to argue with him, but realized he was right. They could not all play into Ishimoto’s hands - _if_ he was indeed the one behind all this.

She bit her lip and prayed that Ginoza was all right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year! Have some drama! What's happened to Ginoza? What's Ishimoto's game? How do you even keep track of all these original characters I've tossed into the mix??? So many questions!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> GInoza is missing...

“I’m sorry, I haven’t seen him.”

The look on Dr Ishimoto Kisho’s face was one of heavy irritation. Opposite him sat one of the Enforcers from the other divisions - Shimotsuki didn’t know her name, but she looked scared out of her wits at the sight of three colleagues barging into her therapy session.

“He was here, Doctor,” Sugo insisted frantically. “He said he had an appointment with you!”

“He did, and I was even notified that he was in my waiting room,” Ishimoto said with barely concealed impatience. “But I was held back slightly by my previous client, and by the time I was ready, he was gone. He left a message with the desk that he was been called away on a matter of great urgency and would reschedule his appointment. You can verify it with my staff. Now, if you will excuse me, I’m in the middle of a consultation.” He turned to Shimotsuki, and his eyes narrowed. “You again. That’s the second time you’ve come in here to harass me and my clients. Be assured that your Chief will hear of this.”

Before she knew what she was doing, Shimotsuki marched up to the therapist and slammed her palms down on the desk between them. “ _Ginoza was here_ ,” she seethed between gritted teeth, “and you _know_ what happened to him. We will find him, and we will prove your link to the Division 2 case.”

Ishimoto’s patient gasped. Belatedly, Shimotsuki suddenly remembered that the Enforcer was from Division 2 - currently put on indefinite leave, due to the ongoing investigation, but still a Division 2 Enforcer - and someone who should _not_ have any details of the case.

Ishimoto bolted upright, nearly knocking his chair over. “You go too far, madam. Get out!”

“ _Inspector_ ,” Kunizuka whispered, tugging her elbow. Shimotsuki let herself be bundled out of the office by her Enforcers, Sugo repeatedly bowing deeply in apology to his doctor as he backed out of the door. It didn’t matter - she had a plan.

Outside the office, Kunizuka looked worried. “Inspector, that was Enforcer Kida from Division 2. I don’t think she was supposed to know anything about what we’re doing.”

Shimotsuki waved it off. “We’ll deal with that later. Right now we have to take care of our own first.” She raised her communicator. “ _Senpai_ , are you still in the meeting room?”

“Yes, with Hinakawa-kun,” Tsunemori responded. “Have you found Ginoza-san?”

“Ishimoto claims he never showed up,” Shimotsuki said grimly. “Is it likely that he went looking for us after we called him?”

“It’s possible,” said Tsunemori doubtfully, “but if he did then he’s taking a long time to get here. It’s not like he doesn’t know his way around the building.”

“Didn’t think so.” Shimotsuki thought fast. “ _Senpai_ , I’m sorry but I think I need to tell you about something.” She quickly filled her partner in on the events that had transpired in Ishimoto’s office.

“ _Mika-chan,_ ” Tsunemori said reproachfully.

“It was an accident, _Senpai_! Listen, I’m going to go check the cameras and see if they show Ginoza anywhere around the building. If the Chief calls, can you hold her off until I’m done?”

“I’ll handle it. Be careful, Mika-chan.”

“Thanks, _Senpai_.” For once, Shimotsuki was glad her partner was someone who was not afraid to take liberties with the playbook. She hung up and looked at her Enforcers. “Let’s go pay Karanomori a visit.”

The analyst was in her office, and she looked surprised at the trio’s unannounced entrance. “My, my, Inspector,” she said with her easy charm. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“I need the closed-circuit footage of Ishimoto’s waiting room from within the last hour,” Shimotsuki said unceremoniously.

“Ginoza’s missing,” Sugo offered by way of explanation. “His last known location was Dr Ishimoto’s waiting room.”

Karanomori’s eyes widened. Wordlessly, she turned to her workstation, and within seconds an array of video thumbnails filled the expansive screens above it. She selected two of them and magnified them side by side: a view of the door just outside the waiting room, and one within the waiting room itself.

Karanomori made a few more selections, and now they were looking at footage from the time frame Shimotsuki had requested. She slid her finger over her keyboard, and the videos skipped ahead.

“There!” Shimotsuki said sharply.

The four of them watched the grainy image of Ginoza entering the waiting room: first through the doorway, and then inside the room, registering himself at the desk and taking a seat. The camera appeared to be mounted above the door of Ishimoto’s office, so that they got a clear view of the whole room but not the office itself. They watched Ginoza lean back in his chair, and appear to fall into a reverie. They watched as Ogamo walked into the frame, presumably from Ishimoto’s office.

“That’s the Division 3 guy,” Sugo muttered. “What’s going on?”

On the screen, Ogamo and Ginoza appeared to have a brief conversation before the larger man left. Ginoza gazed after him, then lifted his wrist. He turned and left the room, to appear on the first camera outside the door of the waiting room. He spoke into his wrist communicator, then tapped it as he appeared to lose connection. He lifted it to his ear, appeared to shout into it. He turned and walked back through the door of the waiting room, presumably to reschedule his appointment as Ishimoto had said.

But the second camera continued to show an empty waiting room.

Shimotsuki gaped at the screens. “Wait. What just happened?”

Karanomori frowned and swiped again. Again, on the first camera outside the waiting room, Ginoza lifted his communicator and spoke into it, tapped it, shouted, and turned to walk back through the door. Again, he failed to appear in the waiting room on the second camera.

“He can’t have just disappeared!” Sugo exclaimed. “Go back again!”

“Are the time stamps correct?” Kunizuka asked.

“Perfectly. But wait… something’s weird.” Karanomori swiped again. This time, Ginoza left the waiting room - and never appeared outside.

“Someone’s tampering with the footage right now!” she said in realization. She swiped back once more. It was certain - all four of them had seen the footage of Ginoza standing outside the room, attempting to communicate with Division 1. Now, it was gone. Ginoza got a call, left the room, and vanished from the cameras. Karanomori skipped ahead, and they watched as Kida, the Division 2 Enforcer, walked in, registered herself and walked straight into Ishomoto’s office. There was no further sign of Ginoza. The Enforcer seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

Sugo balled his right hand into a fist. “Ishimoto’s trying to edit the footage so it fits his account! He _knew_ we’d check the cameras!”

Shimotsuki gnawed on a knuckle. “Karanomori, go back to Ginoza in the waiting room.”

Karanomori complied, and they watched again as Ginoza took a seat and closed his eyes. They waited with bated breath as Ogamo came into view and Ginoza spoke with him. As Ogamo left, Shimotsuki grabbed Karanomori’s arm. “Slow it down!”

In slow motion, Ginoza gazed after Ogamo as he left the room. Then, Ginoza turned to face the camera before lifting his wrist to look at his communicator. He turned to the camera once more, and this time all of them saw what Shimotsuki had spotted the first time.

A vague shadow flickered at the bottom of the screen where the door of Ishimoto’s office would be, as Ginoza opened his mouth to say something in the direction of the camera.

“He _did_ see Ginoza,” Shimotsuki said triumphantly. “That shadow at the bottom has _got_ to be Ishimoto, coming out of his office. Ginoza got our call and turned to excuse himself before going outside to take the call. He saw Ginoza, maybe even guessed that we’re on to him.” She gave a wolfish grin. “We have him. We just need to wait for him to put out his statement, and then we’ll produce this footage to prove that he’s lying!”

“Hold on,”Karanomori cautioned. “We have evidence that Ginoza talked to someone before he left, but not that _Ishimoto_ was that someone. I wouldn’t make accusations I couldn’t prove, Inspector.”

Shimotsuki looked crestfallen. “True. And I’m in enough trouble with the Chief.” She squared her shoulders. “Anyway, the fact that someone’s tampering with the footage means that there’s something that they want to hide. Ginoza didn’t leave of his own accord, I’m sure of it.”

“Which means that Ishimoto has him!” Sugo groaned.

Kunizuka placed a reassuring hand on this shoulder. “He’ll be all right. Ginoza-san is the most experienced among all of us. He can take care of himself.”

“Still, an Enforcer disappearing within the NONA Tower itself is unheard of,” Shimotsuki mused. “We have to get Ginoza back. And bring Ishimoto and Hirota and whoever else involved to justice.”

“Sounds like we have our work cut out for us,”Karanomori said drily.

Shimotsuki nodded, but she knew what they were all thinking. With Ginoza possibly in danger, time was now a luxury they were short on. For now, however, there was nothing they could do but report back to Tsunemori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if that was a little anticlimatic... there's still a bit more to unravel before we reach the end ^^;


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Division 1 has a new addition to their team...

The mood in the Division 1 office was subdued. Without Ginoza - their most experienced member - it felt sorely as though they had been deliberately handicapped. What was even more infuriating was the thought that he could well be still in the building somewhere, held against his will, unable to contact his colleagues for help. But Karanomori had checked all the camera footage in and around the NONA Tower from the time of Ginoza’s disappearance, and there was no trace of the Enforcer anywhere. There was no sign of tampering with the footage, save for the parts that Shimotsuki’s team had seen erased before their eyes.

“That alone tells us something,” Kunizuka ventured. “If the footage from the rest of the building hasn’t been tampered with, and only the footage from Ishimoto’s waiting room has been modified, then clearly that’s where Ginoza-san still is.”

“In the waiting room?” Sugo blurted.

“No, idiot,” Shimotsuki scoffed. “In Ishimoto’s office. She’s saying Ginoza is being held there. But when we went in to confront Ishimoto, he definitely wasn’t in there then.” She frowned. “When I tried to interview Hirota previously, Ishimoto brought me to a separate treatment facility within the clinic, fully equipped and all. He told me it’s where emergency treatment is given to Enforcers who can’t leave the NONA Tower. How much do you want to bet that’s where he’s taken Ginoza?”

“Any way we can take a look and confirm it?” Tsunemori asked.

Kunizuka looked doubtful. “We’ve looked on all of the cameras that we had access to. Any other footage from the clinic would require high-level clearance.”

“I’m sure I can arrange that.” Tsunemori looked around at the members of Division 1. “All right, since we’re already more or less in teams, this is what we’ll stick with. Sugo-san, Kunizuka-san, you’ll continue to work with Inspector Shimotsuki to recover Enforcer Ginoza.” _Alive or dead,_ she added mentally. “Hinakawa-kun, you’ll work with me to build a case against Ishimoto and Hirota.” She cleared her throat a little uncomfortably. “At this point, I should also tell you that the Chief has assigned us a temporary replacement for Ginoza-san.”

“Who - ” Sugo started to ask, and then he did a double-take at the sight of the profile Tsunemori pulled up on her communicator. “ _Ogamo!?_ ”

“Enforcer Ogamo Tamotsu, formerly of Division 3. He will remain with us until this case is concluded.” Tsunemori put up a hand to forestall further protest. “I know your concerns. I’m not too comfortable with the choice either. However, I couldn’t give Chief Kasei a good reason for not taking him on. Many of you - you included, Sugo-san - are Dr Ishimoto’s clients, so I couldn’t object on the basis that Ogamo-san is a current client of his. Ogamo-san was also the last person to see Ginoza-san before his disappearance, which the Chief seems to view as an advantage. She was quite insistent that we take him on.” She put a fist to her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe a little _too_ insistent. In any case, Ogamo-san will work with me.”

“This is a huge mistake,” Sugo groaned. “You haven’t seen Ogamo. This isn’t good for us - or him.”

“Maybe,” said Tsunemori noncommittally; but internally, she knew Sugo was right. It looked like a mistake, but the Chief had intentionally placed him with Division 1 - to what end?

Whatever it was, she could only do her job for now, and hope for the best.

***

It turned out to be far worse than she had anticipated. Ogamo sat opposite her with his hands clasped nervously between his knees. Tsunemori and Hinakawa exchanged worried glances. Far from being someone who could help them, the large, heavyset man looked as though he was constantly on the verge of a breakdown.

“Do you want to stay here?” Tsunemori asked gently. “Enforcer Hinakawa and I can do the necessary work, and - ”

“ _No!_ ” Ogamo grabbed her wrist, and she suppressed the urge to yank it away. “No, please, let me help. No - don’t let me help! I’m no help at all. But - don’t leave me alone. Please.” His eyes, large and hollow, pleaded with her desperately. She eased her hand out of his grip and motioned to Hinakawa to follow her.

“Enforcer Hinakawa and I will just be over there,” she said to Ogamo with gentle firmness. “We just need to go over some things first. All right?”

Once out of earshot, Hinakawa let out a sigh, partly of annoyance and relief. Tsunemori was almost amused, it was so unlike him to show irritation. But something was definitely, incredibly wrong with Ogamo. She didn’t understand how he hadn’t been flagged yet.

_Or maybe he had…_

“ _Onee-chan_ , why did the Chief assign him to us?” Hinakawa asked plaintively. “He’s evidently not well. In fact, he needs treatment as soon as possible.”

“I… don’t know,” she answered frankly. “But whatever the reason, he's stuck with us now.” She stole a glance in his direction; he was hunched over in his seat, staring at the floor. She fought a surge of frustration. “I don’t know what he meant by not letting him help, but it’s clear he’s lost confidence in himself. Hinakawa-kun, I need you to stay here and watch him. Get him busy, so he doesn’t think we’ve lost confidence in him too, but at the same time don’t entrust him with any important information about the case.”

“I’ll get him to research Hirota’s background,” Hinakawa offered. “He doesn’t need to know that we suspect Hirota of turning on his own Enforcers, but he might help turn up useful information on his own.”

“All right, but monitor him at all times,” Tsunemori instructed. “In his current mental state, any suggestion that the members of the MWPSB might be suspect could send him into needless paranoia. It could well have that effect on anyone from the other Divisions not working on this case.”

“Understood,” nodded Hinakawa. “I’ll do my best. But what will you do?”

“I have a tip I need to follow up on,” Tsunemori said grimly. “But first, I think I’ll have a talk with the Chief. A very _long_ talk.”

***

Chief Kasei was not in her office. Of course - it would have been too easy otherwise. Tsunemori bit her lip and turned on her heel to march back to the Division 1 office.

There was so much she wanted to ask. Aside from the question of why exactly the Chief had assigned Ogamo to her division despite presumably knowing about his mental state, she also wanted to know more about Chief Kasei’s tip about Hirota being a member of an anti-Sibyl faction. She had a feeling that this might be crucial in proving that Hirota was indeed the one who had attacked Isa in the stairwell. It would have provided a motive, if nothing else.

The theory she held in her mind made sense to her, but she was wary of revealing too much before she had hard proof. If Hirota was anti-Sibyl, he might have tried to put his Enforcers in a compromising position so as to discredit the Sibyl System. In other words, he could have orchestrated the events on the roof in an attempt to sow seeds of distrust; either among the Enforcers and Inspectors, or in the public against the MWPSB as a whole. He could have even had Ishimoto hide him away so as to encourage the mystery of what had happened on the roof. He didn’t need to provide an alibi, or to prove his innocence. Everything that resulted from that event on the roof would be to his advantage, as long as he remained unavailable for actual questioning. The Enforcers would speculate and spread rumors, losing their trust in one another. The Inspectors would have to shorten their leashes, further fuelling resentment. Perhaps even the public would eventually learn to distrust the MWPSB, if they knew that a large number of them were latent criminals who were willing to turn on one another at the slightest pretext.

_A Psycho-Hazard. Hirota was looking to instigate a Psycho-Hazard on a massive scale._

The irony didn’t escape her that all of it was pure speculation on her part, of course. Aside from Ogamo, and some rumors that had thankfully not picked up much steam, the Enforcers had yet to get to the point where they did not trust one another. Division 1 had successfully played their cards close to their chest, not letting any of their discoveries leak to the other Divisions.

_But how long could they keep it that way?_

And now there was Ginoza. Tsunemori had earlier carefully avoided any indication that she was worried for the Enforcer, but his disappearance was always there now at the back of her mind, a dull hum against the pulse of her conscious thoughts. She had to admit that in all her time as an Inspector at the MWPSB, she had never been without him. Whether as her senior, her partner, or one of her team, he had always been there, with a word of advice or support. Though her interactions with him had lessened considerably since his demotion to Enforcer, she still felt his absence keenly.

_As keenly as the absence of - ?_

She shook her head. None of that now. She could not afford to dwell on - _him_ \- now. Ginoza needed her, and so did the rest of Division 1.

Maybe even the rest of the MWPSB.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chief Kasei is up to something! Poor Ogamo. I feel kinda bad for him because I actually quite liked who he was becoming before all this. Maybe if I could go back and do this again, I'd develop his character a little more. 
> 
> Tsunemori inches closer to the truth, and you know she's obviously right in her speculation about the case. And the parallel with the Psycho-Hazard event of Chapter... *checks* ... 4 is even closer than I initially planned. It worked out well!
> 
> Next chapter: we follow Shimotsuki's attempts to recover Gino!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shimotsuki and her team work out here Ginoza might be, and make plans for a rescue.

It was always a point of pride for Shimotsuki Mika that she had been fast-tracked to her current position at the MWPSB. While it was not unheard of for a minor to take on the responsibilities of an Inspector, it was certainly still a rare enough occurance that she knew of no other Inspector who had followed a path similar to hers. She had been selected because of her natural traits: strong self-confidence and an unbending sense of morality.

Or so she had been led to believe. And since learning of its true nature, she had developed an unshakeable belief in the Sibyl System. In her eyes, it was the closest analog to a god that man could create - a being of law and order. It fit well in her worldview, and she clung to it.

In contrast, latent criminals personified chaos. It was a latent criminal who had shaped her schooldays and inflicted unspeakable trauma on her and those she held dear. It was a latent criminal who had terrorized her in her early days as an Inspector, had forced her into making an impossible decision. She still bore the mental scars, though she was adamant that no one should ever know.

Over the course of this current case, however, she had slowly come to an odd sort of realization. The Enforcers were latent criminals, true enough. She still believed that they were capable of criminal acts and needed to be tightly controlled. But something Sugo said after their first meeting with Ishimoto had stuck with her, despite her best attempts to shake it off.

_“With all due respect, Inspector, you haven’t needed to.”_

He was, of course, referring to the fact that Inspectors didn’t need to consult the in-house therapists. But she also felt the sting of what could have been a completely imagined snub: _you aren’t a latent criminal. You don’t need constant mental treatment._

The fact was that she _did_ need mental treatment, and was indeed undergoing regular sessions on her own, especially after the events of the Kamui case. She had never breathed a word of what she went through to anyone, not even her therapist, for fear of reprisals both professionally and in what little social life she had left. Still, the fact remained that she was seeing her own doctor and using medication to manage her mood swings and anger. She had more in common with her Enforcers than even they themselves realized.

Except Ginoza. He had always been something of a thorn in her side. She knew his personal history, of course, or at least the broad outlines of it: how he had been an Inspector himself, and his demotion to Enforcer after the death of his father. Not a few people had remarked on how similar she was as a new Inspector to Ginoza, at least in their attitude towards Enforcers.

But he was always so infuriatingly _calm_. She could hardly believe the stories she had heard about how he used to be as an Inspector - the way he used to flare up at the slightest provocation, wearing his emotions like an open sore. It didn’t seem like the same person. The Ginoza she now knew remained unperturbed by anything. She didn’t understand how a human being could possibly seem to be in such complete control of his emotions. She couldn’t help but feel that he was always patronizing her, making her feel like a fool, and if there was one thing that pushed her buttons, it was being patronized. She couldn’t stand the sight of his face, with the hooded eyes and bland, sombre expression. His very existence mocked her with a reminder of how she could turn out if she wasn’t careful.

And now he was gone, and she was in charge of getting him back.

Up till now, she had been mainly fueled by adrenaline. Mostly, she had been _angry_. How dare Ishimoto snatch an Enforcer out from right under their noses? It was that righteous fury that had driven her every action up to this point.

But now that she had the time to stop and think, she found that she resented having to look for him. No, she resented him for even getting himself into this situation. Couldn’t he look after himself? This impeccably self-assured, capable man, whom everyone in Division 1 seemed to hold in some kind of special regard? Why did she even have to rescue him? The mere thought of it made her want to grind her teeth.

“Uhm, Inspector…” Kunizuka’s voice broke into her reverie. She snapped her head up to see Sugo and Kunizuka staring at her in mild concern, and realized that she was, in fact, audibly grinding her teeth. She unclenched her jaw and sat up primly.

“We need to go over our plan of action,” she said with all the authority she could muster. “First, we need to establish whether Ginoza is being held at the treatment facility. Inspector Tsunemori will get us the clearance we need to check the cameras, but there’s always the possibility that they’ve been tampered with the same way the cameras in the waiting room were. So, in the event that we can’t actually confirm that he’s there, we need to get into the facility ourselves.”

“A search warrant?” Sugo suggested. “It got us what we needed the last time.”

“Maybe,” Shimotsuki said slowly. “But once we do get in, what next? What if Ginoza’s not actually in the facility? Ishimoto’s already put in two complaints against Division 1. One more and we’re toast.”

“Good thinking. That’s unusually cautious of you,” Kunizuka observed.

Shimotsuki flushed. “I know how to do my job!” she said defensively, though internally she glowed at what she took to be a compliment from Kunizuka. “Ok, so this is what we’ll do. First, once we get clearance, we’ll check the cameras. If we can confirm that Ginoza’s in there, then we’ll get the warrant and storm in. If we can’t, then the only option left to us is stealth.”

“Like, sneaking in?”asked Sugo.

“Like sneaking in,” Shimotsuki confirmed.

“Please, let the cameras confirm it,” Sugo prayed.

***

“I’m sorry,” Karanomori said, taking a deep drag on her cigarette. She gestured to the screen above her workstation, where a window showed grainy thumbnails of various empty rooms. Only one of them seemed to be occupied by a still figure lying on a bed. “That’s Hirota, inside the clinic’s treatment facility. All other rooms show no sign of life.”

“So Ginoza’s not there?” Shimotsuki asked.

“That’s not what I said. Look closer.” The analyst magnified two of the thumbnails. “Here’s Hirota’s room, and here’s Room 48. Look at the grain of the two images.”

Shimotsuki, Sugo and Kunizuka leaned in until their noses were almost touching the screen. They watched the digital grain shift on the two videos, indicating that they were not still images. After about fifteen seconds, Shimotsuki straightened in disappointment. “There’s nothing there.”

“On the contrary! If you pay attention, you can see the exact moment when both videos loop.”Karanomori manipulated the controls as she talked. “Here, here, here… and it goes on. Somebody’s taken the original video and looped it while the cameras continued to put out the correct timestamps. I’d say someone has something to hide in both of those rooms.”

Shimotsuki slammed her fist into her palm with a vicious grin. “It’s Room 48. We’ve _got_ him!”

“So, we’re sneaking in?” Sugo asked plaintively.

“We’re sneaking in,” Shimotsuki confirmed with a decisive nod.

“Please, let this be over soon,” Sugo prayed.

***

Ginoza awoke to a pounding headache and a nagging sensation that something was very, very wrong. He lay still and listened to his own slow breathing without opening his eyes. _One, two, three, four._ He was alive, at least. Of that, he was sure.

That, however, was all he could really be sure of. He remembered being in Ishimoto’s waiting room. He remembered getting a call from Division 1. He vaguely remembered answering the call (or did he?). He had - was Dr Ishimoto - he -

He held his breath, counted to four, and let it out. _Whoosh. Let’s try that again._

He had been in the middle of answering the call when the signal had suddenly gone dead. Looking back, he wondered if some kind of jamming device was being used. They were illegal, sure, but he knew of at least two popular models that were being sold openly as privacy shields for use in situations that required strict confidentiality.

_Such as in a psychotherapist’s office…?_

And then - he had turned to head back to the reception desk to reschedule his appointment. No, wait -he had meant to do that, but he had been intercepted - abducted? The details, however, were lost to him. The next thing he knew, he was here. Wherever here was.

Slowly, excruciatingly, he opened his eyes. He was lying on what looked like a hospital bed in a sterile, windowless ward, still in the suit that made up his daily uniform, hooked up to a monitor that steadily beeped with every beat of his heart. At least whoever had abducted him clearly didn’t mean for him to die - yet.

He blinked against the harsh whiteness of the ceiling light and tried to move his hand to shield his eyes, only to find that his wrists were loosely strapped to the rails of the hospital bed. His ankles were similarly restrained, and a wide belt bound his torso to the bed frame. It figured. If his abductors knew that he was an Enforcer, they would know he was trained in combat - and they would be taking no chances if they were themselves untrained.

At the moment, however, the pounding in his head was getting steadily worse, threatening to drown out all capacity for thought. And so, with nothing else he could do, he allowed himself the vulnerability of drifting back into the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Apologies for the long break... busy time at work, so here's a slightly longer chapter to make up for it. The work stuff is done though so hopefully there'll be a bit more time for writing.


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